A Georgia teenager serves as an inspiration and a pillar of hard work, as the homeless girl worked relentlessly to graduate and earn her spot as valedictorian of her high school.
Chelesa Fearce managed to keep her grades up despite not being able to call a place home.
“I just told myself to keep working, because the future will not be like this anymore,” said the 17-year-old Fearce, who put up stellar grades at Charles Drew High School despite sometimes living out of her mother’s car.
In fact, through her work in advanced placement classes, she’ll be able to start college next year as a junior.
She graduated with a whopping 4.466 GPA and recalled the various sacrifices and struggles she went through.
“Worry about being a little hungry sometimes, go hungry sometimes. You just have to deal with it. You eat what you can, when you can,” she said.
Chelesa, who scored a 1900 on the SAT, will start at Spelman College in Atlanta in the fall.
She’s not the only top student in the family, as her sister, Chelsea Shelton, is graduating as salutatorian from George Washington Carver High School in Atlanta.
“She has overcome some obstacles,” school counselor Razelda Killen said. “She has been homeless, but in spite of those obstacles she has still done an outstanding job academically, socially.”
Chelesa shows that hard work pays off and no matter what your circumstances are, you can work your way out of them.
Check out this empowering video below!
